Birds of a Feather
A new display on these urban bird specimens is in OMCA’s Bird Lab space, located in the Gallery of California Natural Sciences, featuring taxidermied birds and artwork depicting common urban birds in their metropolitan habitats. Visitors are given a checklist to encourage them to try to survey the Museum gardens for the species and then to report their data to the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Scientists will then analyze the crowdsourced data to study how environments influence the prevalence and location of urban birds.
Outdoor Afro will also use this new lab space by providing innovative programming to supplement what’s in the gallery, such as organizing outdoor hikes and using the lab as a teaching tool. The hikes circle Lake Merritt, where participants can try their hand at spying birds and learning about their local habitats.
For more information on Outdoor Afro, see our interview with founder Rue Mapp, or visit outdoorafro.com. For more on the Celebrate Urban Birds project, visit celebrateurbanbirds.org.
This story originally appeared in the Winter 2016 issue of Inside Out, the Oakland Museum of California’s Member magazine.